It is strange that in our country, the birthplace of the Arabic language, so many companies and business establishments, including hotels and supermarkets, issue their bills in English. Even some Saudi consulting companies write their reports in English.
Are we to believe that the ideas cannot be expressed clearly in Arabic? As a journalist for more than four decades, I have heard demands for a long time from our journalists and writers that we should Arabize not only hotel bills but letters to foreign companies as well. It is however, sad to observe that as time passes, the influence of English is steadily growing. Most companies now use the foreign language in all their correspondence.
Last week a local Arabic daily reported that the Ministry of Commerce had directed all Saudi companies to comply with an earlier order from the Council of Ministers.
The earlier order directed that all business establishments and companies should use only Arabic in correspondence with government departments. The ministry also observed in the circular that several letters from private companies to government departments were in English. This is a clear violation of government orders and directives. The ministry also directed chambers of commerce and industries throughout the Kingdom to inform all companies of this order. As an additional implementation of the order, I would appeal to the ministry and all other government departments to reject any correspondence that is not in Arabic. Foreign companies should be asked to provide an Arabic translation side by side with the English text of their correspondence. This was, as many will remember, the practice during the days of our economic boom.
